


Creation

by hiddenlongings



Series: The Sentinel Fusion [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22046611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddenlongings/pseuds/hiddenlongings
Summary: Yo listen up, here's the storyAbout a little guy that lives in a blue worldAnd all day and all night and everything he sees is just blueAKA Derek becomes a Sentinel and pretty much nobody is happy about it.
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg
Series: The Sentinel Fusion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586920
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Creation

Derek had never been much for nature. If he wanted to go for a run he either picked out a treadmill at the gym or went to a track nearby. As he sprinted down the overgrown trail though he was starting to regret that. There weren’t any huge obstacles to leap over, no walls to climb but the vines snagged his feet and the roots tripped him up occasionally. The unsub that he was trying to hunt down had a bit of a headstart on him as well as being far more familiar with the woods that they were running through. Derek had to put a little bit more focus on his feet as he felt them start to slip on the half rotted leaves that had further covered the trail. Once he managed to regain his pace though the man that he had been trailing behind seemed to have disappeared into the underbrush of the area.

Derek tilted his head as he slowed his pace down to a brisk walk. No crunching branches from booted feet. No susurration of leaves as they were kicked aside. The birds were quiet too though. There normal songs silenced as they felt a predator had appeared among to them. Derek slowed to a complete stop as he let his eyes scan the surrounding trees. The unsub hadn’t been that far ahead of him when he had lost his footing. If he had kept going Derek knew he would have heard him. So that meant that the man had gone to ground when given the opportunity.

Derek could hear the rest of his team catching up to him as they spread out into the clearing. All of them were thankfully professional enough to stay quiet and kept an eye on Morgan’s tensed form as he put a restraining hand back behind him halting them in their tracks. Taking a moment to try and hear above the steady breaths of his team Morgan tried to relax from the tension of a full out chase. He had to try and think as the unsub would.

What would he do?

These woods were the man’s main hunting grounds. He’d been through every inch of them over the years. Hunting deer. Hunting women. Where would he feel safe? Derek let his hand fall back so that he was holding his Glock with both hands. A sudden strange sound had him tilting his head again. It had been soft. Almost too quiet for him to pick up on but it had sounded very much like the scrape of the sole of boots against wood. Morgan let his eyes partially close as he tried to focus all of his attention on his ears.

The deep steady breaths of his team were easy enough to disregard. Something started to move through the leaves to his left but from the sound it had a few too many legs to be human. A deer probably, trying to sneak away from the sudden onslaught of humanity that had broken up the quiet woods. Then there again that quiet scrape. The angle was strange though.

Almost as if.

Morgan suddenly burst back into motion as he figured out what had happened. The tree that he stopped at the base of was only a few hundred feet from where they had stopped. Easy enough to get to with the lead the man had and also surrounded by dense enough cover that it was hard to see the small stakes that had been placed deeply into the trees trunk. A crude ladder that lead up to a very well hidden deer stand.

“FBI!” Derek roared and he was rewarded with the sudden rustle of leaves from the higher branches of the tree. “Mitchell Rogers, you’re under arrest! Drop your weapon and get down from there.”

As Rossi caught up to Morgan again his eyebrows were heading towards his hairline. His mouth was opening to question how Morgan had managed to pick out the tree and why he thought their unsub had chosen it as a hiding spot when a machete fell from the sky and landed at their feet.

“Okay. All right. I’m coming down.”

Morgan felt something predatory in him ease a little bit as the man made his way slowly down from his hiding spot. All signs of aggression carefully suppressed. If the man would have had a tail it would have been tucked between his legs. Rogers was a tall lean man that had been able to easily keep up with the women that he had hunted down on their morning runs. The element of surprise had been what had given him the confidence to take them down before they were even aware of what was happening.

Rape.

Murder.

Then a callous disregard for the bodies after he was done with them.

A story that Morgan was all too used to seeing play out before him at crime scenes and in the pictures preserved in manila folders. A rumbling growl seemed to reverberate through the air suddenly though and everything in Morgan that had started to come down was back to high alert. Rogers suddenly twisted off of the ladder that he had been slowly climbing down and he launched himself towards Morgan with a feral twist to his mouth and a serrated hunting knife clenched white knuckled in his right fist.

Derek had been moving seconds before the sudden move though and he had dodged backwards and brought his gun up before Rogers could even take in that his intended prey had moved. The sharp report of the Glock going off made Morgan want to flinch away in pain but he forced himself to stay steady. Rogers landed in a tangle of limbs and with a heavy crunch.

Dead before he had even hit the ground.

Rossi had barely managed to even bring his own gun up by the time this had all happened. Reid sprinted up to Morgan’s side and he barely managed to catch the older man when he staggered back; almost falling over.

“Morgan! Are you okay?”

Rossi’s eyes widened even further as he looked closer at Morgan’s face. Reid was keeping Morgan on his feet but only barely and he saw the same thing that Rossi did at almost the same time.

“Morgan!”

Reid reached a shaking hand up and swiped at his friends jaw.

“Your ears are bleeding!”

* * *

Derek eyed the body bag that was being dragged out of the woods. It hadn’t taken the local police and EMT’s long to arrive at the scene. Once Rossi had called in their information and that the man that they had been hunting for the past six months had finally been captured the area had swarmed with them. Thankfully no one seemed too bent out of shape that Derek had managed to catch the man by shooting him directly through the heart.

He’d been gently lead to sit on the edge of ambulance so that a paramedic could take a look at his ears since all he could currently hear was the loud ringing of tinnitus that promised to be annoying as hell until his ears had healed up a little bit. Reid was currently hovering around the paramedic. At the rate his mouth was going Derek figured the younger man was talking the woman’s ear off. Could be talking to him as well of course but Reid was an actual genius it hadn’t taken him long to figure out that all Derek could hear was muffled noises without being able to decipher any of the actual words. It was a damn weird thing though.

Granted the gun had gone off at close range but Derek had shot a wide variety of guns at just as close of a range, some of them with a hell of a lot more bang for the buck so to speak without having his hearing get completely blown. Between the blood and the loud ringing noise Derek figured he’d somehow managed to bust an ear drum or two. Which probably meant permanent hearing loss. Derek flinched a little bit when he felt the cold pressure of an otoscope against his ear canal but forced himself to relax when the paramedic gave him an apologetic pat to his shoulder. She hummed quietly to herself and gently tilted Derek’s head in the other direction so that she could look at his other ear.

Wait.

She’d hummed?

The ringing in his head receded like it was a car moving away from him on the highway and all of a sudden all of the regular sounds of a crime scene came roaring to life around him.

“...The statistical likelihood that our unsub would have…”

“...I’ve put up roadblocks down the road both sides….”

“...Looks like you just managed to bust a couple of smaller blood vessels in your ears Agent Morgan…”

Derek’s head whipped back around to the paramedic as her quiet voice cut through the chatter for an instant. Then it whipped away again as though he was being barraged by the voices coming at him from seemingly every direction. Louder and louder until it was an unholy cacophony that made him want to clutch at his ears and try to shut out the world. Or it had made him it seemed. Morgan felt the gravel from the side of the highway dig deep into his dress pants as he kneeled next to the ambulance. He was doubled over with both hands pressed as tightly to his ears as he could manage and a low whine was coming out of him that sounded like he was the one that had been shot.

“...Jesus man did you see this? Straight through the heart…”

“...Great now that song’s going to be stuck in my head all day…”

“...Freaking BAU, couldn’t just help us find the guy had to take all the glory…”

“...Not sure how he knew where the unsub was…”

“...Morgan? Morgan! Derek!”

Derek abruptly felt a pair of warm hands as they cupped around his own hands gently drawing them away from his ears. All of the sounds seemed to fade away again. Gently this time though. No sudden pain or horrifically loud gun shot just the sound of Reid’s voice as he yelped his name. Derek let his eyes relax, they had been screwed shut so tightly he could feel the tingle of blood flow returning when he peeked them open. Reid’s brown eyes were scanning him closely, the whites showing all the way around in his panic, and all of a sudden all Derek wanted to do was bury his head in a kind bony shoulder.

“No big deal pretty boy, think I just got my hearing back all of a sudden is all.”

Derek used the edge of the ambulance to pull himself back to his feet and gladly accepted the alcohol soaked bandage that the paramedic offered to him to swipe at the darkening blood stains that were running down from both his ears. Weird as anything that it had gone and come back just like that but if it meant that he wasn’t going to need to be fitted with some sort of a hearing aid Derek wasn’t going to argue about it.

“Not sure why your hearing went out like that in the first place.” She said. “Like I said just looks like a couple of blood vessels popped and put on a bit of a scary show for you and your team. Anything else you need me to look at?”

“I’m fine ma’am thanks for taking a look I appreciate it.”

Reid side-eyed him with all of the subtlety that he was capable of, which was to say not much at all, but Derek pointedly ignored that as he strode back towards Rossi and JJ. At this point they were a bit of a superfluous add on to all of the local LEO’s that had come running at the call. Derek scrubbed his face with an alcohol scented hand. His headache had not gone away with the return of his hearing but he could at least focus a little bit better on what was going on around them. The team was probably smaller than it had ever been before but at least Derek could trust every single one of them down to his marrow. Reid hovered around him anxiously as he headed back towards the SUV’s that they had left parked by the road.

“Here, Reid.”

Morgan called quietly as he underhand threw the keys towards the younger man.

“You drive. I don’t think I’m up to it unfortunately.”

Reid had to scramble a little bit to catch even that soft throw; his hands were clumsy and a little shaky from the fall from his adrenaline high.

“Sure thing Boss. Are we heading back to the station?”

Morgan sighed deeply as he contemplated the rest of his day.

“Yeah, we’re going to need to at least give statements.”

Morgan levered himself into the passenger side front seat and let it lean back a little bit.

“Wake me up when we get there please.”

* * *

_The sky is blue._

_The grass is blue._

_Blair squinted at a nearby leaf suspiciously._

_Also blue._

_Oh dammit. Usually when he ended up here the spirit world seemed to sweep him away from the mundanity of everyday life. He’d be covered in paint and wearing a lot less clothes than he was normally comfortable with. Totally with it as the Shaman. One with nature and the spirit of all living things and all that jazz. Today though seemed to be a different sort of vision._

_The last thing he remembered he had been huddling down in a none too comfortable hospital chair as he waited for Jim to awaken from sedation. “_

_Must have fallen asleep.”_

_Blair muttered to himself. He tried in vain to peel his curly hair off of the back of his neck so that he could get a little bit of a breeze on it. It didn’t really help. The air was still and humid enough that it almost felt like wading through lukewarm bath water that covered him from the top of his head to the tips of his bared feet. Wonderful. No shoes either. Although he had thankfully never managed to stub his toe in the spirit world before so hopefully that truth would remain the same._

_The wolf that appeared in front of him made Blair jump about a foot in the air as it appeared from out of the (also blue for goodness sake) underbrush. Thankfully it seemed to be thriving. Thick lustrous coat of hair that would have probably left a real wolf reeling in the jungle heat and his eyes sparkled and danced with laughter. After Blair had landed he manfully pretended that the tap dance of the wolf’s front paws was from excitement at seeing him and not that the mystical animal was laughing at his jumpiness. “_

_Don’t know why you’re in such a good mood.” Blair grumbled. “The few times I’ve been here it’s rarely been a pleasant experience.”_

_The wolf play bowed briefly before turning on his heel and leading Blair further down the path that he had appeared on. Blair huffed a fuzzy hank of curly hair off of his forehead with an upward breath before he started to follow his spirit animal. Well he’d never lead him wrong before._

Jim stared at the ceiling tiles above his head with grim ferocity. The hospital bed was only barely long enough to keep his heels from tipping off the ends and he really didn’t want to know what it felt like for his leg to drop even a couple of inches. His hands were folded easily over his stomach and Jim ignored the angry gurgling that was erupting from it. He hadn’t eaten in hours and honestly with as fragile as his stomach was feeling he probably wasn’t going to be eating again until at least tomorrow. No need to have to heave his guts out when he wouldn’t be able to even get out of bed too easily. He’d have to use one of those off colored plastic containers to spit into and it wasn’t going to happen if he had any say in the matter at all.

Besides he thought with a slight grin as he eyed his peacefully sleeping partner. He could probably manage to guilt trip Blair into getting him some Wonderburger for lunch tomorrow. Probably with a side salad instead of fries, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Jim shifted his weight a little bit and grimaced as his knee throbbed hard. The surgery had been necessary if he wanted to keep himself from needing a wheelchair anytime soon; but that didn’t mean that was looking forward to the recovery process in any way. He had been putting off getting his knee operated on for a number of years, hoping vaguely that medical knowledge would surpass its current status and he wouldn’t need to have some doctor come in and cut the edges of his tibia and femur off.

As the years had passed since the gunshot wound to his knee Jim had come to rely more and more on his cane to walk. It probably wouldn’t have been as bad as it had become so quickly if he hadn’t had to go haring off after Blair after he managed to get himself kidnapped (yet again) by a serial killer. The BAU had been a pain in the ass and to his knee as he had struggled against their narrow minded assumptions. He was still a little too proud of the fact that he had probably managed to give Derek Morgan a concussion after he had basically pistol whipped the younger man. The whole lot of them had been a bunch of over educated assholes who hadn’t been willing to look outside any sort of a box to find the answer that was right in front of them.

Jim shifted his gaze again to look back at his own over educated asshole (although thankfully Blair was a man who was completely unfamiliar with the box) fondly. Small town hospital or not he had found one that was well known for its successful knee replacement surgeries. Blair had managed to cajole Jim into getting the surgery that he had been digging his heels in on for years. Wide blue eyes peering up at him. While his mouth motored through all of the reasons that now was the time man. Why wait until he got any older and would have even more trouble healing from the surgery. Jim had only been willing to remove his only half feigned pout at being called old when Blair had gently kissed his lower lip. Unsurprisingly Blair had finally worn him down to the point that he had begrudgingly agreed to at least look into his options. They’d had to move again after the BAU had left. Jim finally settling somewhat uneasily into retirement as he trailed after his lover.

Blair had given up so much for him over the years; taking on teaching positions that had to have bored him out of his skull no matter how eager he was to teach the younger generation. High schoolers; even Seniors, had to be a couple of steps down from trying to teach college students. Generally the college age students at least wanted to be there. Blair, being well Blair, hadn’t run back to academia the way that Jim had thought he would when given the opportunity. He never seemed to do what was expected of him.

Jim straightened suddenly in alarm when a completely unexpected hiccough of greeting rumbled through the air and the black jaguar appeared out of nowhere. The big cat had been as close to MIA as he had ever been since Jim’s senses had awakened. Now though the animal was very nearly purring as it settled at the foot of the bed. Intangible weight not jostling him in the slightest while also making its presence very well known. It was eyeing Blair with what looked like barely contained mirth. Jim sighed deeply as he eyed the spirit in front of him.

“You guys couldn’t have waited until I was at least back on my feet could you?”

All he got in reply was a smug flick of the cats tail.

* * *

_Derek’s dreams didn’t normally lend themselves to any sort of fantastical scenery. He’d dream about paperwork he had forgotten to do. Killers that had gotten away and what they could be up to now. And sometimes on especially hard nights he would dream about Buford. Derek shivered in the heat and looked around._

_Everything seemed to be tinted a strange otherworldly blue._

_The jungle around him looking almost untouched by human hands except for the clear trail that was leading him towards his as of yet unknown destination. The heat of it nearly took his breath away but he padded on quietly; unwilling to just stand where he had started at or worse sit down and wait for whatever came next. The heat aside this really didn’t feel anything like what Derek would have imagined a jungle to feel like. It was eerily quiet, no calling birds or monkeys. No insects buzzed at his ear or tried to bite him as he slid past thick leaves and tried to keep his bare feet clear of the edges of the path. The soft soil felt comfortable on the soles and he was afraid that if he tried to go off the pre-laid path that he would become lost in the seemingly never ending trees._

_The first real sound that Derek heard other than his own quiet breaths was a soft murmur of speech that made him instinctively tilt his head back a little bit and inhale deeply. His nose had felt like it was becoming more and more sensitive in his day to day life and Derek had found himself using it more and more to try and keep track of the world around him. Now though nothing came to him. Which he supposed made sense in the context of the dream. He wasn’t actually in the jungle. He wasn’t actually hearing someone. He’d fallen asleep in the SUV obviously on the way back from the crime scene. So really if his nose was working at all he should have smelled its leather and plastic. Derek slowed down even more as he carefully made his way through the trees as the voice became louder but no more clear to him then when he had first heard it._

_When he finally stepped into the clearing Derek could only look on baffled as he took in the sight in front of him. The man sitting cross legged in the center of the clearing looked like his hair had been hit simultaneously by a shower head and by a bolt of lightning. Curls coming away from his head in wild spirals from the humidity and sweat dampening his temples. He was barefoot too. Although at least his shorts and loose fitting cotton t-shirt looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than Derek’s own jeans and long sleeve shirt. He was also cheerfully talking to a wolf and a grizzly bear._

_Right._

_If it had been his own real head rather than a dream version of his actual head Derek thought he would have already be heading towards a full on headache now. Dreams were just dreams. They didn’t have to mean anything but as horrible as his regular dreams were they at least made sense to him in the moment and once he had woken up. Stresses of the day coming back in the night for his subconscious to try and work on them._

_This though._

_This was just weird. The wolf was happily panting next to the grizzly bear looking for the all the world like it was enjoying listening to the older man speak to him. The grizzly bear looked like he was tolerating the rambling speech but was waiting for something to happen. When Derek got his first full look at the bear in front of him he felt a pang of unexpected emotion hit him in the chest. He was honestly beautiful. Thick long fur that gleamed like honey in the blue tinged sunlight. His head had been resting on his paws but when Derek had cautiously stepped into the light he had turned his head and stared straight into Derek’s eyes with a piercing sentient intelligence. The long haired man stopped talking immediately as he swung his head around to follow the direction of both animals gaze and his eyebrows flew up towards his hairline above familiar blue eyes as he took in Derek’s presence. Derek felt himself flinch a little as he realized that he recognized the man in front of him._

_“Sandburg.”_

_Blair Sandburg’s smile as it started to grow on his face was bordering on wicked as he took in the younger man’s presence. “_

_Morgan. Well, at least I won’t have to start the story from the very beginning. I was just telling your spirit guide that I hoped his Sentinel was as much of an asshole as he was. Guess I got my wish.”_

Spencer had to keep most of his attention on the road ahead of him as he headed back towards the police department. His eyes scanning; keeping a sharp eye out for animals or drivers who were paying more attention to their phones than they were to the world around them. Morgan had already had a hell of a day; Spencer didn’t need to make it any worse than it already was by getting into a car accident one of the few times that Morgan had entrusted him with the wheel.

Normally the older man liked to be in control, he had lead the charge as the two SUV’s had headed out towards the woods when they had figured out exactly who their unsub was. He always seemed to be at the head of the group.

Once Hotchner had headed off towards higher offices.

Reid very carefully didn’t grit his teeth as he thought about the way Aaron had left them.

Morgan had stepped up to the plate in a way that had felt like the most natural thing in the world. Reid let himself give Morgan a brief glance; taking in the way that Morgan was slumped down low in the seat. It had taken the man only a couple of moments to fall heavily asleep as they had driven away from the forest. Probably a combination of crashing adrenaline as well as how hard the man had pushed himself after they had landed in the small town. Even in sleep Morgan barely looked relaxed; his brow was heavily furrowed and his hands twitched and clenched as though he was fighting to keep himself from hitting something.

Spencer whipped his face forward again and clenched his own fingers so tightly around the steering wheel that they turned a bloodless white. He had to keep his fingers there to fight the urge to cup Morgan’s jaw to try and help ease some of that tension. It seemed to be his lot in life to have inappropriate feelings for his superiors. Some genius if he couldn’t even learn from his past mistakes. Gideon at least had only been mistaken for a pseudo father figure. Aaron was. Reid bit his lip hard enough that he felt something start to tear as he flicked the turn signal with a lot more force than necessary to turn off of the highway. Well; Hotchner had been a mistake in a completely different way.

When Spencer finally pulled into the police department’s parking lot he had to carefully peel his hands away from the leather of the steering wheel. Feeling them cramp and tingle as the blood and feeling returned to them. Spencer hesitated for another long moment as he turned back towards Morgan. He hated having to wake the man from his much needed sleep but the sooner they got this done the sooner they could get back on a plane back to Washington. Reaching out a gentle hand to shake Morgan awake Reid was completely unprepared for Morgan to lash out.

Morgan’s hand was large enough that his fingers were wrapped completely around Reid’s delicate wrist and he could feel his bones bow a little under the pressure of the grip. Reid’s startled eyes flew up towards Morgan’s face and he forgot the unexpected pain of the grip when he took in how pale Morgan had become.

“Guide.” Morgan rasped. As though it had been wrenched directly from his chest.

* * *

It had been years but Morgan was still intimately familiar with what a panic attack felt like. His heart was racing in his chest and he felt a little light headed from the shallow panting breaths that he was struggling to deepen.

God. What was this?

Derek had unconsciously curled himself into a ball in the passenger side seat of the SUV. His knees were pressed to his forehead as he tried in vain to breath properly. He had had enough therapy and training that he should be able to focus and drag himself out of whatever emotional upheaval his body was currently fighting against. One of Reid’s hands was warm on his shoulder. The younger man had managed to struggle free from his seatbelt somehow without trying to twist his wrist out of the grip that Derek had unconsciously reached for.

The dream, or whatever it had been, was a blur. Nothing seemed to make sense. Shades of blue and honey brown. Curiosity, followed by irritation, followed by some sort of emotional shock that had jolted him awake. But no matter how he strained his memory Derek couldn’t remember anything else. Reid’s voice, slightly high pitched with concern, was still a soothing murmur that he tried to focus on. Dark spots were starting to appear in his vision and Derek didn’t think he’d be able to get over the shame of blacking out in a fucking panic attack.

It wasn’t even the fact that he’d killed a man.

Derek’s shot had been nearly instinctual as he had caught the flash of a knife being drawn. Mitchell had been willing to kill any and all of them in order to either get away or to commit suicide by cop. Derek had read that intention in the sudden twist of the man’s body. In cases where he had been defending himself and his team Derek rarely felt any sort of long term regret for the people that he had had to kill in the line of duty. Maybe it made him something of a sociopath himself; a sentiment that he had always carefully kept to himself when speaking to psychiatrists and therapists. So whatever that dream had been about it hadn’t been about today’s events.

Reid had stopped talking Derek suddenly realized but the younger man still hadn’t tried to make him let go and instead of trying to pull away he had wrapped his free arm around the back of Derek’s shoulders and drawn the larger man in towards him. Even with the discomfort of the center console separating them Derek finally let himself take in deep inhaling breaths. Reid smelled like spice and honey. Comforting in a way that reminded Derek of family and sex conflicting as that was.

Reid had pressed his jaw against the crown of Derek’s head huddling close enough that his long shaggy hair was draped down enough to hide both of their faces from the rest of the world. When Derek finally came back to himself enough to notice their position he forced himself to relinquish the grip that he had on Reid’s wrist. He winced a little bit when he noticed the smudgy start of bruises that were already starting to appear on the pale delicate skin. Reid didn’t say anything though just used his newly freed arm to wrap Derek in a hug. Thank god the SUV had tinted windows Derek thought wildly. At least if he was going to lose his fucking mind he had managed to do so relatively privately with a man who wasn’t going to judge him too harshly.

“Sorry about this.” Morgan’s voice was rough and his throat felt raw as though he had been screaming.

“We’ve had a hell of a few years,” Reid said quietly. “And to be honest quite an exciting day. I’m sorry I startled you. I should have been more careful.”

“Can’t carry a stick to poke me with from a distance dude. People would think you have some sort of fetish. That’d just be weird.”

“Well,” Reid said gravely. “We all know that I am the epitome of conventional masculinity; so perhaps people would just wonder if I had chosen to take Roosevelt’s words to heart on speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Everyone knows how terrible I am at understanding euphemisms.”

Morgan gave a watery chuckle as he finally returned the hug briefly.

“Truer words.”

* * *

Blair jolted awake so abruptly that he managed to scoot his butt off of the edge of the uncomfortable recliner that he had been slumped into. He didn’t so much fall to the floor as slide but he still hit the hard tile floor with a distinctive thump. Blair blinked his eyes rapidly as he tried to pull his consciousness free from the grip that the spirit world had held on him. The room around him slowly hazed into focus but he could only stare dully at the edge of the bed that Jim was currently sleeping in.

The pain meds must have hit the man hard because he didn’t seem to have so much as flinched when Blair had fallen. Where the spirit world had been tinged in blue the real world seemed to have been bleached within the walls of the hospital. Everything was beige. Blair let his forehead fall forward into his hands so that he was staring at the tile he could see between his knees. Okay. So maybe the tiles were ecru but he wasn’t going to be too picky when he was busy being overly dramatic.

The sight of Morgan slinking uneasily into the clearing had been enough to set his heart pounding. What had it been. 5 years? 6? Long enough that both Blair and Jim had started to relax from their normally ever present paranoia. The Behavioral Analysis Unit seemed to have become something of a bad dream. The boogeymen in the shadows that had been waiting for some sort of a slip up. Derek Morgan had looked much the same as he had back then. Blair wasn’t going to deny the fact that Morgan was a handsome man; he was still striking but the agent had lost any remaining softness that had lingered in his eyes back when they had last seen each other in the real world.

The spirit world seemed to strip people down to their essences and surrounded by the blue underbrush the man had seemed like a stark and lonely figure. From the way the giant grizzly bear had eyed the man Blair figured Morgan was going to be forcefully given a literal bear hug and then cuddled whether he liked it or not.

“Blair?”

Jim’s voice was slightly slurred from the medication that Blair had bullied him into taking. Jim’s system was still a lot more sensitive to certain pain medications than a regular person would have been; but over the years and assorted injuries they had worked out what would do the least harm to the sentinels system while also giving him at least a modicum of pain relief. Blair’s laugh was a little hysterical as he finally pulled himself back to his feet so that he could look Jim in the eye.

“Oh man. Are you ever going to hate this.”

Jim’s feet were covered by an almost tangible jaguar that purred in welcome and made Blair start a bit in surprise.

“I figured something terrible was going to happen when puss here showed up. Go on, Chief.” Jim looked up at the ceiling with only half-feigned resignation. “Hit me while I’m down.”

* * *

“I hate that guy.”

Jim’s voice was plaintive as he tried to keep himself completely still. He didn’t want to jostle his knee or the damn cat that was still lurking on him. Blair’s side eyed look of amusement meant that his tone was probably a lot more whiny than he had intended for it to be.

“I know Jim; but hey at least this time he’s not going to think you’re a serial killer!”

“Way to look on the bright side.”

“Hey man, I’m here for you.”

And jokes aside, as Jim let his hand curl around Blair's as he thought about training up a new Sentinel, he knew that at least was the truth.


End file.
